Roof Rack or tow bar

[roscowilson]

Hi All, I'm new to the forum, and am after some advice. After some searching I'm left wondering what the best approach to transporting bikes is? It seems that not many Tow Bar experts will touch the Alphard due to no towing specs for the UK.

What have others found? Is it easier to go down the roof rack route?

[Rojie]

13 hours ago, roscowilson said:

Hi All, I'm new to the forum, and am after some advice. After some searching I'm left wondering what the best approach to transporting bikes is? It seems that not many Tow Bar experts will touch the Alphard due to no towing specs for the UK.

What have others found? Is it easier to go down the roof rack route?

 

Hello Ross,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

[Alpha Hydrae]

Presumably you don't yet have a tow bar fitted? I think it would be difficult to reach high enough to mount bikes on a van roof rack. My preference would be a tow bar mounted system. I'm not sure if vertical rear door mounted racks exist for the Alphard (e.g. the VW Transporter type rack). At the moment, I just fold up the rear seats in my Alphard and there's space for 4 bikes between them, and 4 passengers in front, great for days out.

Edited May 8 by Alpha Hydrae
Spelling error

[Rojie]

8 hours ago, Alpha Hydrae said:

Presumably you don't yet have a tow bar fitted? I think it would be difficult to reach high enough to mount bikes on a van roof rack. My preference would be a tow bar mounted system. I'm not sure if vertical rear door mounted racks exist for the Alphard (e.g. the VW Transporter type rack). At the moment, I just fold up the rear seats in my Alphard and there's space for 4 bikes between them, and 4 passengers in front, great for days out.

 

Hello Ben,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

[pcous]

Hi Ross,

I can't help with your question about roof v towbar, however I can give you details of our setup. We had a towbar fitted, but then we have a camper conversion with pop-top, so there was no choice. Our towbar came from PCT Automotive in Sheffield [0114 251 1000]. I recall they provided fitting instructions on their website which you can download, so if you don't have a local Alphard expert on your part of the south coast I would guess that a garage that specialises in fitting towbars for any vehicle would be able to fit from these instructions. We have an Atera Strada Evo bike rack, which has a roller pull-out system, when unlatched the rack can be pulled away from the rear with the bikes still on to allow enough room to lift the tailgate. This has been really useful for gettting to all the bits & bobs we store under the bed. Overall, we've been really pleased with this setup....

[roscowilson]

Hi Pcous, thanks so much for the advice, most helpful, I have been able to find a garage down here on the south caost (The Tow Bar Centre near Poole) they've quoted me about £500 for fitting plus electrics. Out of interest, do you have the 13pin or 7pin connector on your bike rack? 

[pcous]

Hi Ross, t'is a 13-pin connector